Can I change the name on my naturalisation certificate?

Can the name on a naturalisation certificate be changed?#

Not to show a change of name made after you became British. A certificate of naturalisation records the day you became a citizen, and the Home Office's guidance on the use and change of names says that a document which is a record of an event, such as a birth certificate or a naturalisation certificate, "cannot normally be amended unless there are exceptional circumstances". The examples it gives are a Gender Recognition Certificate in your acquired gender and an adoption approved by a UK court.

HM Passport Office's guidance on nationality certificates explains how the Home Office's Citizenship team deals with requests. It reissues a certificate only if it accepts that the original was issued in error. If the certificate was right on the evidence you gave at the time, it is not reissued with different details; if you later produce different evidence of what it recorded, such as a different date of birth, the team can add an endorsement to the original showing the difference.

GOV.UK offers two services, and neither is for a later change of name:

• Correcting a mistake. You send form RR with your original certificate to UKVI. You pay £456 only if the mistake was your fault, and UKVI writes to tell you.
• Replacing a lost or damaged certificate. If you became a citizen after 30 September 1986, a replacement costs £456 and you usually apply online. For a certificate issued up to that date, GOV.UK points you to The National Archives for a certified copy.

How do I show my new name, then?#

With two documents side by side: the certificate, which shows the name you had when you became British, and the document that links it to your new name. That is a deed poll or a marriage or civil partnership certificate, or one document for each change if there have been several. HM Passport Office's guidance says evidence of a change must show the link between the old and new names and, on a first passport application, must link back to your naturalisation certificate; where a link is missing, it asks for a statutory declaration covering all the names you have used.

An unenrolled deed poll is accepted if it is signed in the old and new names, witnessed by at least one person, signed in wet ink, dated and made at the time. The certificate still proves your citizenship, and HM Passport Office wants the original with a first application. Ours costs £18.50; a paralegal drafts and checks it, and we post it on the same working day.

Getting your first British passport in your new name#

GOV.UK says that if you have a certificate of naturalisation, you send it with the passport you used to come into the UK, or the foreign passport you are included on. HM Passport Office issues the passport in the name on the certificate unless you also send evidence of your change of name and evidence that you use the new name for all purposes, for example a bank statement or an employer's letter.

When the names differ, staff make sure you are the rightful owner of the certificate, and they decide whether you need an interview. The guidance says no interview is needed for a change made by marriage or a change of gender after naturalisation, as long as you apply within a year of naturalising and there are no other concerns. If you married before your certificate was issued, so that it shows your earlier name, you send a signed statement that you use your married name for all official purposes, with your marriage certificate and proof of use.

If you hold another nationality, change that passport first. GOV.UK says the name on a non-British passport must match the name you want on your British one, and the Home Office expects a new citizen who wants a British passport in a married name to change their other passports before applying (two nationalities, your other passport). An adult passport costs £102 online or £115.50 with a paper form.

Should I change my name before or after I apply for citizenship?#

Either works, and the difference is what the certificate shows.

Before or during the application. HM Passport Office's guidance says that if you change your name before or during naturalisation you must tell UKVI, because the new name must be on the certificate (contact UKVI). The Home Office says you may be naturalised in your married name. If none of your identity documents shows your new name yet, the application guidance, Guide AN, asks for evidence of the change, such as a deed poll or a marriage certificate. Two things need the new name on your own documents first. Guide AN says your English language test must be booked in the name on your passport or identity document, so to sit it under a new surname you change that document before booking. And if you hold an eVisa, GOV.UK says updating the name needs an identity document that shows it (your eVisa).

After you become British. The certificate keeps the name you naturalised in. You show it with your deed poll or marriage certificate whenever the link is needed, which is the route HM Passport Office's guidance sets out for changes made after naturalisation. Changing your name if you are not a British citizen covers the period before citizenship.